I don't think that you can place this performance on one player. If anything, more should be expected from the strength of this team, the centers... particularly Jordan Staal, the 4 million dollar "shutdown center" who has had front row seats for some of the most crucial goals in the series. Sid has also been noticeably lax in the defensive end. If it's a team mentality, perhaps you blame the coach. I don't think it's as much tactical as it is player management... Disco has taught these guys that as long as they "get to their game" and go through the same motions they go through in practice, they will win. Philly has brought another level of intensity that this team is not ready for.

I don't think the sky is falling, I don't think it necessitates firing Bylsma, blowing up the team, etc., but I think it DOES require adjustments, and the Pens have yet to show that. If the wake-up calls (which have been ringing for the past month) are not answered soon, this will be a very, very short series.

However, I take a little bit of comfort in the fact that this Philly team was built to beat the Pens, and I don't think they will fare particularly well against any other team, let alone win anything of significance.

wondermoose wrote:At this point, I would gladly put Depres in over Martin. Dude is just a wreck out there.

And continue to play Lovejoy?

The call-ups aren't the answer. Strait was a liability in the last few games of the season and Despres is likely to get exposed too. I like the job Shero has done, but I'll echo what others have said. He blew it by not getting a D at the deadline. And isn't it funny that Philly picked up two solid D in Grossman and Kubina. They went for it. Shero didn't. The Pens D depth is garbage after the top six. You can put guys like Lovejoy and Strait or whoever in during the regular season and get by just fine, especially when you're scoring a lot of goals. Teams hone in on those weaknesses in the playoffs. Lovejoy got victimized on goals five and six against. He got victimized in the playoffs last year. Hopefully next year Shero pulls the trigger on deadline deals to shore up the D. They can't go into the playoffs again next year with AHL scrubs as their depth.

Martin again was probably one of the top defenseman again tonight. Not sure why he or Z are even getting mentioned here as an issue. Let's see two goals shorthanded ( Crosby, Sullivan), two goals against engel and love joy, malkin, kunitz, Neal -4. It isn't the flyers D that is winning it for them. It's their desire to compete especially the young players, gourix, couture .

wondermoose wrote:At this point, I would gladly put Depres in over Martin. Dude is just a wreck out there.

And continue to play Lovejoy?

The call-ups aren't the answer. Strait was a liability in the last few games of the season and Despres is likely to get exposed too. I like the job Shero has done, but I'll echo what others have said. He blew it by not getting a D at the deadline. And isn't it funny that Philly picked up two solid D in Grossman and Kubina. They went for it. Shero didn't. The Pens D depth is garbage after the top six. You can put guys like Lovejoy and Strait or whoever in during the regular season and get by just fine, especially when you're scoring a lot of goals. Teams hone in on those weaknesses in the playoffs. Lovejoy got victimized on goals five and six against. He got victimized in the playoffs last year. Hopefully next year Shero pulls the trigger on deadline deals to shore up the D. They can't go into the playoffs again next year with AHL scrubs as their depth.

Martin again was probably one of the top defenseman again tonight. Not sure why he or Z are even getting mentioned here as an issue. Let's see two goals shorthanded ( Crosby, Sullivan), two goals against engel and love joy, malkin, kunitz, Neal -4. It isn't the flyers D that is winning it for them. It's their desire to compete especially the young players, gourix, couture .

Kunitz wasn't -4.

He was -5

Second straight year the Pens have hacked up a snowman at home in the playoffs. Nice. At least the 8th was an EN this time. So we got that goin for us.

What kills me is how Mark Madden says that Crosby should get the max allowed under the current CBA during contract negotiations beginning July 1 - I see a problem with this how this team is currently constructed paying too much to the top two stars and hope that Crosby and Shero have enough sense to take less than he is making now to continue forward. Sending a message to Geno as well, whose contract is up the following year.

Staying on Madden, who insists that taking the best player in the game off of the power play is a mistake - it is not so much taking him off, it is the mix of right-hand and left-hand shooters that makes a difference. This is not about egos, it should be about winning.

This game, last game, the games in the regular season all look the same. Pens come out dominate the first period. They dump the puck in and hammer the Flyers defensemen. Philly struggles to get the puck out of their own zone and generate any quality scoring chances. Pens get up 2 or 3 goals and then come out in the second period and completely stop doing everything they did right in the first period. By the time the 3rd period rolls around they rarely dump the puck in anymore and the hitting is way down. Philly begins to take over the game and they are the ones doing the cycling. It's clear that when the penguins play the way they are capable of Philly can't hang with them. The problem is the Penguins either physically can't play that way all game or they simply choose not to. If they physically can't play that way all game they got problems, because playing the way they have in the 2nd and 3rd periods isn't cutting it. If they can physically play that way all game and for whatever reason don't do it...well that really shouldn't be too hard to correct if they truly want to win this series. I don't think there is anything the Flyers are doing differently in the second and third period that is causing the problems. I think it's all the Penguins. If it was the Flyers doing something differently, they'd be doing it in the first period of every game.

He's an enabler. It's not healthy for people to be living in a fantasy land.

It's hockey, dude. The whole thing is fantasy land, win or lose.

Fandom is on some level emotional and irrational. Sports exists because they're able to convince people like me to make an emotional and financial attachment a) to an event in which I have no control, and b) to athletes who likely wouldn't pee on me if I were on fire. It's not a bad thing to react emotionally, and if venting about the shortcomings on a message board is how I or others react, so be it.

Cheers. It always gets me when someone starts to rip into people for getting emotional since obviously nothing we say can change anything. Duh. But we're fans of a team and we spend time talking about the team on a message board. I know that in the big picture this stuff doesn't matter. I have plenty of other things going for me in life. Life doesn't begin and end with the Pens for me. But I've been a fan for a long time, it means something to me, it's been one of my favorite things since I was a child. I have pride in the city, especially since I don't live there anymore. So with all that, of course there's going to be a emotional interest in it. When things go as badly as they have the last two games, we're going to go off. These are some ugly moments. This is a debacle, some terrible blown leads against a hated rival. This is one of those lows that makes the highs better. Hopefully we don't have to wait too long for another Cup high but this year ain't looking like it's going to be.

That's all I got tonight folks. In my heart, I know this series is over. As a fan, I'll watch the ship sink. I'm surely not going to give up on the team now, but I'm realistic. Hopefully they fix what is wrong with them and in a year we're on a run towards making all these kinds of moments worth sticking through. These last two seasons have had a lot of ugliness to them, with the injuries and the playoff collapses. Hopefully, better times ahead with concussions behind us and many more years of some of these great players to look forward to.

Some Flyers media person- Panaccio maybe- said on HNIC Radio last week that he thought the Flyers would win in 7 with the visiting team winning every game. At first I thought- what a goofy thing to say. But I filed it in the back of my head and now I'm kind of pondering it.